Huron Expositor, 2007-08-22, Page 3The Huron Expositor • August 22, 2007 Page 3
-News
Brussels opensptou
thepubflcwith annualevent
More than 160 people attend Doors Open on the weekend
that remains of -the original
building is one of the walls.
McNeil said the building was a
woodworking factory that made
rocking chairs, butter boxes, sock
stretchers and little red wagons.
The building is now filled with
antique collectibles and only
open to the public when McNeil
opens it for special occasions like
the recent Homecoming or Doors
Open.
The rest of the time, the doors
are not only closed, but locked
and protected by alarms.
Ruth and Ken Smith of
Egmondville visited the site.
"It's a great way to see inside
old buildings," said Ruth of the
Doors Open concept.
Bob and Susan Roden of
Toronto also visited. It was the
first site in Brussels they'd been
to.
"We usually go to about ten
Doors Open events each year,"
said Susan.
Bob said the appeal is the
chance to see historic architec-
ture from the inside.
Aaron Jacklin
About 100 people made it out to
Doors Open in Brussels on
Saturday, Aug. 18 according to
Ralph Laviolette of the Huron
Business Centre.
"They're all out-of-towners," he
said on Saturday, noting that
Brussels residents had probably
gotten their fill during the recent
Brussels Homecoming.
Doors Open is an annual event
held every summer in communi-
ties across Ontario. Communities
literally open the doors of many
historic buildings to the public.
"It's a great provincial pro-
gram," Laviolette said earlier
this summer. "We find it brings a
lot of visitors into our area that
wouldn't otherwise hear about
us."
Dan McNeil had McNeil
Autobody open to the public.
"I lived upstairs from 1946
through into the 60s," he said.
McNeil's father had bought the
building after leaving the Air
Aaron Jacklin photo
Bob and Susan Roden, of Toronto, admire the architecture at McNeil's Autobody
during Doors Open in Brussels on Saturday, Aug. 18.
Force and it was both the family It was built in the 1800s and
home and business, with the rebuilt in 1904.after being rav-
garage downstairs. aged by fire. About the only thing
Community starts to raise money for Ralph Wood
Susan H u n d e r t m a r k
A banana cream pie, auctioned off
at last Thursday's Twilight Tunes
for $40, was the kick-off for a com-
munity fundraising plan to help out
the Wood family after Ralph Wood's
ATV accident.
Wood, a Seaforth electrician and
volunteer firefighter, was on a fish-
ing trip in Wawa this spring when
an ATV accident sent him to hospi-
tal. He is now a paraplegic and
receiving rehabilitation in
Parkwood Hospital in London.
"People have been so wonderful,
so helpful and supportive. We're so
lucky to be living in a small town,"
says Ralph's wife Dianne.
A fundraiser, planned for the
weekend of Nov. 3 and 4, will
include a Saturday afternoon jam-
boree and silent auction, an evening
dance and live auction and a
Sunday breakfast.
"Ralph is the nicest guy you want
to meet. It's important the commu-
nity rally around and so we are,"
says organizer Christine Benke.
Groups including local merchants,
the Legion, the Optimists, the Lions
Club, the Agricultural Society, the
firefighters and a group of local
hunters are joining together to plan
the fundraiser.
Benke says the community is try-
ing to raise as much money as possi-
ble for the Wood family since home
renovations or even a new house
will be necessary when Ralph comes
home in a wheelchair. He will also
not be able to work anymore.
"Ralph would bend over backward
for anyone. He's a volunteer fire-
fighter who risked his life every day
for this community and he can't
walk anymore," says Benke.
The fundraiser is called "Out of
the Woods" to reflect Ralph's last
name, his love of the outdoors as a
hunter and fisherman and his med-
ical condition.
"He is out of the woods and for a
little while there, we didn't know if
he was going to make it," says
Benke.
Benke says everyone is hoping
Ralph will be back home and able to
attend the fundraiser.
Dianne says all of the visitors who
have been dropping into Parkwood
Hospital to see Ralph have been
vital in his recovery and that he
wants to make sure he's at the
fundraiser.
She says he's been told he can be
home in eight to 10 weeks depend-
ing on how his therapy progresses.
"We're keeping our fingers
crossed," she says.
•
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